All posts tagged leadership

The most cliché leadership advice you will ever recieve

By Bryson Moore on November 7, 2011 in Ideas with 1 Comment

Someone asked me recently what makes a good leader.

Seeing as I work for a leadership development center, and that I’ve led quite a few projects, businesses, and groups of people, this guy probably thought I was well equipped to answer his question. Truth be told, so did I.

I thought about it for a second.

Then, to my surprise, what began spewing from my lips was a verbose collection of the most cliché garbage I’ve ever heard. I started saying things like, “you’ve got to manage by walking around” and “you need to over communicate” and “set priorities for people” and on and on. He wrote some things down and then looked up at me like, “really?”

It was embarrassing. He knew it. I knew it. He thanked me (for what I’m not sure) and walked out.

Later that day I emailed him an apology. I also tried to redeem myself by offering some real leadership advice. The following is my non-cliché advice for how to be a good leader:

1. Be real with people. Don’t try to be someone you’re not.

2. Be in constant communication. Informal is better and faster.

3. Push hard. Tell people what you expect.

4. Do remarkable things. Most people think great ideas are crazy at first.

I guess the point of it all is that being a good leader comes down to some pretty simple stuff. The danger is that leadership can easily be turned into a cliché. When it is, whether you’re just giving advice or actually living it out, people notice. Don’t be like me. Don’t be the cliché.

VIDEO: Notes from the World Business Forum

By Bryson Moore on October 19, 2011 in Ideas with No Comments

Here’s a recap from the business part of our trip to New York. Some of the biggest names in business and politics speak at this conference. People like Bill Clinton, Jack Welch, Seth Godin, Howard Schultz, and Malcolm Gladwell. Here’s a little video about what I learned from them.

Want people to get it? Make it visible.

By Bryson Moore on September 2, 2011 in Ideas with No Comments

In a meeting the other day, I asked our team of about 26 people this question:

“What are our 3 big objectives for the year?”

Silence.

Crickets chirping.

Blank stares.

To my surprise (and to my frustration), no one could rattle it off.

Quick backstory. For the past few months, we’ve been deep in a strategic planning process at The Soderquist Center. Our guide is a guru in strategic planning. Our plan is simple, it fits on one page. It lists our Objectives, Goals, Strategies, and Measures for our entire organization for the whole year.

Back to the meeting. Now I’m frustrated that our team didn’t know it by heart. And later I received some feedback that I came across as agitated and harsh. To be honest, I was. But saying things like, “This is important, people!” and “You should know this already!” didn’t really help the situation.

As I processed this a little more I realized that in our excitement to create the plan, we missed a big piece. We didn’t make it visible. The document lived in some folder on our server where people would have to dig to find it.

So I decided to fill up my office windows with big bold words and pictures to remind us of our vision and our plan. Some people think I’m a little crazy (which I don’t disagree with), but all in all, it has been well received. Since the meeting, many people have joked with me about being so direct and annoyed, a side of me they rarely see. And most everyone has posted the strategic plan at their desk. They like to wave it around as I walk by.



3 pieces of advice from a great CEO

By Bryson Moore on August 24, 2011 in Ideas with No Comments

David Glass and Don Soderquist giving advice to this year's 40 Under 40 class

David Glass has a way of cutting through the bull. He speaks in no uncertain terms about what he thinks.

I’m glad he does, he has a lot to say.

Retired CEO of Walmart, David arguably accomplished more than any other CEO in history.

Yesterday I got to hear him speak at the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s ‘Forty Under 40′ event. (The Soderquist Center is a sponsor)

He talked about some things that I believe most organizations today fail miserably at.

1. Just make a dang decision already.

And if you screw something up, fix it. David admittedly “hates” decision by committee. His rule at Walmart was never to leave a meeting with something undecided. He didn’t wait for people to go do research. He didn’t allow people to put things off. They just made decisions and moved ahead. “There are two ways to climb an oak tree. 1. Start climbing. 2. Stand on an acorn and wait for the tree to grow.”

2. Keep it simple.

David’s people would send him 2-page, single spaced memos to update him on important issues. Eventually he stopped reading the second page. He thought the reports were too cumbersome. If he missed something on the second page, oh well. Once people realized he was only reading the first page, they started condensing the reports to one page. Obviously the reports were more complicated than they needed to be.

3. You don’t have all the best ideas

“Most of the ideas we had at Walmart were copied from our competitors. We just figured out how to improve on them.” David’s advice is to see what others are doing around you. Don’t get enamored with yourself or you will miss the best ideas.

You can watch part of an interview I filmed with David Glass and Don Soderquist here.

Ask a lot of questions

By Bryson Moore on July 15, 2011 in Ideas with 1 Comment

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

Voltaire

Leading the World’s Largest Company

By Bryson Moore on May 6, 2011 in Ideas with No Comments

I’ve produced a lot of interviews in my time, but this one is probably my favorite. Learned a ton from these two business icons. This is just a tiny preview.

David Glass and Don Soderquist were at the helm of Walmart during the most explosive growth the business world has ever seen. In this exclusive interview from The Soderquist Center, David and Don, retired CEO and COO respectively, discuss the early days of building the world’s largest company. During their tenure Walmart’s sales grew more than $200 billion. In this short preview, David and Don discuss the importance of predetermining results, cultivating mavericks, and taking risks.

This is just a taste of our full interview with these business icons. You can sign up for The Soderquist Center’s free newsletter to stay up to date on new releases. soderquist.org/​newsletter

The unpopular choice

By Bryson Moore on March 14, 2010 in Ideas with 2 Comments

“What’s missing most from business today? Not sales. Not service. Not technology. Answer: A point of view.” -Jason Fried (Founder of 37Signals)

I believe you must do what’s unpopular and risk being wrong if you ever want your work to be of consequence.

You’re not really leading unless some of your decisions cause the crowd to thin. Please have your own point of view and don’t let the popular vote sway you.

Lee Scott on Leadership

By Bryson Moore on August 25, 2009 in Ideas with No Comments

This afternoon, Lee Scott, former CEO of Wal-Mart, spoke at the Forty Under 40 Luncheon in Rogers, Arkansas. I thought he had some great things to say about leadership. He is obviously well-qualified to speak on the subject. Here’s what he had to say:

1. Hiring people more talented than you is a great way to build a successful career.

2. Ego is the greatest enemy of leadership.

3. When people know what you want, they will often give it to you.

4. The ability to give honest constructive feedback is crucial to being a good leader.

5. Few people feel like they are on top of absolutely every detail. It’s ok. That’s why you build a team you can trust.

6. What you say isn’t nearly as important as what people hear. (Ask someone after a performance review what they will go home and tell their spouse)

7. Even if you feel strongly about something, you might be wrong.

8. Your hardest critics may be most helpful voice you hear.

9. Sharing praise is a compromise. You should just give it all away.

10. Integrity is the single most important characteristic of a good leader.

Catalyst interview with Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes

By Bryson Moore on August 14, 2009 in Ideas with No Comments

I just listened to a segment on the Catalyst Podcast with Blake Mycoskie who is the Chief Shoe Giver and Founder of TOMS Shoes. He had some interesting things to say about his learning experience while creating TOMS.

Catalyst: What would you say to businesses who are thinking about doing some form of cause marketing?

Blake: I think there are some businesses that are meant to do just business. If you’re going to do cause marketing, it needs to be completely transparent, otherwise it will backfire. Take the AT&T commercials we did for example. It was completely authentic. I’ve been a customer since 1997, I run my entire business from my phone and I’m constantly building a business and at the same time helping people live better lives. And the one thing that connects those two things is the phone.

Catalyst: There are a lot of ideas being launched everyday. What made TOMS Shoes break through and what was the catalyst that made it happen?

Blake: First you need a Purple Cow idea, something worth talking about. TOMS wasn’t the first shoe company to be philanthropic but we were the first to give a shoe for every shoe purchased. Second, you have to be persistent. It took three hard years to get it off the ground.

Catalyst: What have you learned about leadership while running TOMS?

Blake: You can only be a leader by empowering other people. The more you try to control, the bigger the bottle neck you create and the more frustrated people get. Plus, empowering people shoes that you trust them. I have no day to day responsibility at TOMS because I have empowered people to run the business and they know I trust them.

Catalyst: What have you learned about yourself on this journey?

Blake: I started TOMS as an extrovert, now I’m an extreme introvert. When you are successful, everyone wants to spend time with you. The most important thing to me is spending time with close friends and families.  I like to just lay low and spend time with close friends.

Catalyst: What was the most difficult part?

Blake: Learning how to produce shoes. We had no idea how to do it. Manufacturers were trying to screw us on the price and we had to figure out how to scale from 10 shoes to 1,000 to 10,000.

Catalyst: What does TOMS mean?

Blake: It started with the idea of “Shoes for Tomorrow” then it went to “Tomorrow Shoes” but that wouldn’t fit on a label. So we shortened it to TOMS. It stands for a better tomorrow. We are all part of TOMS in some way.

Catalyst: What does the future of TOMS look like?

Blake: We want to focus less on us as TOMS and focus more on how we share the story with as many people as we can. We are intentional about building one on one relationships with churches and young people so that more people will go out and create the next TOMS.

“I’ll buy you a steak dinner”

By Bryson Moore on August 13, 2009 in Ideas with 2 Comments

A long time ago, a former boss of mine used to say that if we achieved a specific goal he would take us out for a steak dinner. He was usually quite impassioned about it, almost as if he couldn’t wait to reward us. Even though he meant well, the problem was that he never followed through on his promise.

People want leaders who follow through. Even a promise as seemingly inconsequential as a meal, if unfulfilled, goes a long way to show people you don’t care about them.

Stick to the old adage: Under promise, over deliver.